Thoughts - Ask the Owners of the Images! Not the Users!

Last week, in my naive excitement to share a product idea with readers of this blog, I did something wrong. Sharing the product idea - that was fine. However, it was brought to my attention that my proposed product sounded like a real product. IT IS NOT A REAL PRODUCT! It is merely an idea I shared to solicit feedback on its potential viability as an image tool.

I admit, as I reread my post,it sounded as if I were offering the proposed product for sale, something I would NEVER do without permission from both DigitalGlobe and Google Earth. It seems one of my readers took offense at the language of the post and an offer to let readers view a product prototype, at no cost. After thinking about my offer to allow readers to download the proposed product, I decided that it was a poor idea for a number of reasons, so I withdrew that post and previous posts that discussed this proposed product. I will handle this proposed product idea with the parties involved and not with my readers

Now I want to share what I felt as my motives and character were being discussed by strangers via a comment thread on the blogsite Technical Ramblings. First, I felt pissed that my innocent motives were being challenged by someone who doesn't know me, and only knows my posts. I felt I was being called a thief for allegedly stealing images from both DigitalGlobe and Google Earth. Worst, this individual intimated that I was doing this knowingly. I attempted to defend my motives and apologize for any misleading statements I might have made, to no avail. The scolding continued and a suggestion that I read a September thread discussing the proper uses of Google Earth images. I read the thread and, thank God, after reading it I snapped out of it.

The next morning, I contacted a well-placed representative of DigitalGlobe about the "fair use" of their imagery taken from Google Earth. This individual is well aware of my work and has viewed it a number of times. He assured me that my use of their product, to derive my island maps from, was okay! His only caveat was that my maps and the use of their images was not to be used in a commercial operation and I DO NOT sell my maps or their images, DigitalGlobe is fine with what I do. As to my proposed product idea, that is now between me and DigitalGlobe.

When I first began making maps of islands, using DigitalGlobe images fround in Google Earth, I spoke with a Google Earth representative who repeated the same approval of my island mapping and the use of their imagery to better share my mapping efforts. I was told to include all appropriate trademarks on the images and to not produce maps or to use their images for profit. This person suggested I contact DigitalGlobe to secure their permission as well, which I did.

This is my lesson learned - avoid threads, no matter how well intended the parties might be. Most often the comments are strictly opinions of people like you and me, they just sound more learned then we do. The bottom line is if you want to determine once and for all if your actual or intended use of images or derivatives taken from those images is "fair use" or allowed or how ever you want to describe it, ask the owners of the images, in my case DigitalGlobe and Google Earth. Both parties approved my use of their images. So, that's that.